A/N: This bonus chapter was brought to you guys by Quinton Matthews!
[Blood Diary Entry]
"So, how do you want to do this?" Rebekah asked me.
"Huh? You want me to take charge?" I asked, a bit surprised by it.
She shrugged. "I mean, you have been doing it for a while. Remember the ghost? And yesterday, when you were negotiating with Nico? It was all you… So, I'll follow your lead on this, and if you do make a mistake, I'll sort it out."
I smiled. "Sure. Thanks for the vote of confidence, though."
"Anytime," she smiled back.
"So, should we go for the stragglers first?"
"Why would you want to go after them first?" She didn't seem to want to give me straight answers right now, which is a bit frustrating, not gonna lie.
I sighed. "Because if we go deal with the nest first, these might get scared and run off, which would just make the problem go elsewhere and not fix it per se."
She smiled proudly. "Indeed, that is smart thinking. Did you memorize where the stragglers hid?" She asked with a teasing tone, half expecting what my answer would be.
I scratched the back of my head, embarrassedly. "Uhm… no, just the general direction."
She laughed out loud. "Don't worry, that is more than enough. The racket they'll make inside, and their stench will do the rest."
I nodded.
We started speeding through the city, moving around like blurs to the human eye.
We weren't really worried about someone seeing us, because there were very few people still alive in the city, and the ones that were still alive were either shivering in a corner or had passed out from stress.
It is a sad sight.
Judging by the size of the town, it used to house no less than ten thousand people. And now… now I would be surprised if more than a hundred were left.
This is a major disaster, and I don't quite know how the powers that be are just leaving everything unchecked…
If we hadn't crossed this place, who would've dealt with this mess? If the ghouls eat everything this city has to offer… what will they do after?
I decided to ask Rebekah these questions, and I was none too happy about it.
"There were quite a few supernaturals in positions of power back in the day, and I don't think it has changed over the years—if anything, it got even worse." She paused, her expression turned pensive. "So, most of the citizens who got out of here were most likely compelled to forget, if not outright killed. And as for your second question, the answer is simple. They will spread like an infection, going from one place to the next, until eventually those lazy assholes decide enough is enough."
"What the hell? Shouldn't they have dealt with this as soon as they got wind of it?" I asked incredulously.
"You underestimate how selfish and lazy people really are, Darian. If someone powerful enough passed by and learned what was going on, they would deal with it and probably ransack the town of its valuables as compensation. But otherwise, no one would go out of their way to deal with something that isn't really their problem to begin with." She answered somberly.
"But isn't this whole mess posing a risk of exposing the supernatural to the populace?"
She shook her head slightly. "People are more ignorant than you'd expect. All it would take is a note of this being a disease or viral outbreak, and that is the whole problem dealt with." Noticing my unbelieving gaze, she smiled, but it wasn't the charming and comforting smile I came to enjoy so much; it was an empty smile. "Trust me, Darian, it has happened before. And also, a nest of this scale is very rarely seen, so it's not as bad as it sounds."
"Haah…" I exhaled. "What a rotten world."
She laughed dryly. "Don't I know it…"
Then the two of us caught a whiff of something rotten, something that reeked of death.
The scent came from a small convenience store further down the street.
I focused on my hearing.
The sound of cans, shelves, and who knows what else being tossed around, followed by the sound of chewing and that same raspy breathing.
Found our first straggler, it seems…
I noticed a broken window and the probable entry point of the creature, then I turned my gaze towards the locked door.
Burst in through the window like a deranged animal—or a stealthy ninja—or walk through the door like a refined gentleman?
The answer to that question is rather straightforward.
I walked over to the door, and Rebekah followed right behind. She waited for me to do the trick where I turn into mist and unlock the door from inside.
But…
"I got a delivery for an ugly ass monster!" And kicked the door clean off its hinges, startling the thing that was inside the building.
Rebekah looked at me with a mixture of exasperation and incredulity.
She sighed and walked by me, entering the store in steady steps.
I chuckled and followed her.
We saw the mess the thing did, as it tossed everything around.
In the distance, where the freezers were, a gory mess of the half-rotten meat that was stored in the freezer stained the ground.
The thing was apparently having a little feast!
Urgh, this smell is offensive to my nostrils. I can only imagine how their nest is going to be…
The ghoul, who was already alert due to the mess I caused, stared at us with eyes full of malice.
Its muscles coiled and relaxed, again and again, as if it were undecided if it should just leap towards us or run away.
Rebekah was about to go and deal with it when I held her hand, stopping her in her tracks.
She looked at me questioningly, to which I just pointed at myself. She nodded and stepped back.
I mean…
I have in front of me the perfect lab rat. I've been meaning to test out and get my new disciplines under control. But it is easier said than done. Because, in the most part, they only serve to improve what is already quite monstrous, as for the rest, they need some fine control, which will probably need some weeks of focus. Which I don't actually have right now…
But anyhow, using these helpful little fellas, I can at least gain some experience in dealing with the easier disciplines.
And the one I want to control the most right now…
Dominate.
The art of imposing my will onto others, a more potent and brute form of Rebekah's compelling, which is more subtle and gentle.
I decide to see what this can do in full force, and then I'll proceed from there.
I focus my entire will, the entirety of my mind, on the ghoul.
I command it to halt.
I feel a rush of energy flowing from me directly to it, and when it does reach the ghoul…
Its head simply explodes in a gory mess.
I turn to Rebekah, and I smile mischievously. "This is why I didn't want to compel my mother."